Apparatus for treating citrus fruit for removing rind oil



p 1936- w F. c. DORMENT 2,052,548

APPARATU FOR TREATING'CITRUS FRUIT FOR REMOVING KIND: OIL

Original Filed Dec. 12, 1930 IN V EN TOR.

1922/74 6. Dar/neat A TTORNE Y.

fruit.

' -tion, as will appear from the descriptive matterv {Patented Sept."1, 193

APPARATUS FOR TREATING CITRUS FRUIT FOR REMQVING BIND OIL Frank 0. Dorment, St. Petersburg, Fla. as'signor of one-half'to FrankB. Edmundson, Pittsburgh, Pa.

@ Refiled for abandoned application Serial No. 501,767, December 12, 1930. This application November 19, 1935, Serial No. 50,550

application is a rei ile of my abandoned application Serial No. 501,767, filed December 12,

My invention relates to the treatment of citrus fruits such, as oranges; lemons, grapefruit, and the like, and more particularly to apparatus for the removal of oil or oils from, the rinds of such In the past, such oils have been extracted largely by hand, by various methods such as the spongef method. Attempts to recover rind oils by mechanicalmeans have failed or resulted in inferior products, largely because thermeans and methods employed have required the use of extraneous solvents, steam distillation or the like, or have involved the employment of means so designed that the fruit wasso. injured in the,

course of recovery of the oils that the oils were not recovered in pure form but were contami- .An object of my invention is to provide apparatus for therecovery of oil or oils from the rinds of citrus fruit, that shall be capable of eflectingthe recovery of such oil or oils without requiring the use of extraneous solvents, and

without havinga' harmful effect upon the oil during the recovery, and-that shall be generally of improveddesign and utility.

- My invention also has for an object the provision of various improveddetails of construcgiven hereinbelow and the drawing accompanying this specification.

My invention contemplates the provision of apparatus wherein the fruit is placed in 'a rotating vessel forced by centrifugal force against an outer wall having multiplicity, of prickersor ribs, of 'such length'as not toenter the fruit within the rind, but sufflcient'to puncture the rind to .action-being suflicient to cause the oil to leave v, f. In order that the oil may be recovered rapidly 3 Claims. go]. 87-28) of inwardly projecting prickers or ribs of suitable size and shape, and the outer shell, which 3 surrounds and suppo s the inner wall," being constituted of relatively heavy or at least substantially rigid metal, having a plurality of openings or foraminations therein to permit the free I also provide, where desired, 'mean's for introducing an inert gas, such as carbon dioxide, nitrogen, helium or the like, to the interior of the enclosing chamber, to eliminate oxidation of the oil during recovery thereof or any other unforth and understood, I now describe, with reference to the accompanying drawing,-a preferred formdn which it may be embodied,- but without limiting myself to such illustrative example. In

,the drawing,

Figure l is a view partly in vertical section and partly in elevation, of apparatus for removing portion of the apparatusshown in Figs. 1 and 2.

Similar reference numerals designate similar parts in each of the several views of the drawing. Referring to the drawing, the apparatus consists principally of ajvessel I, preferably of cylindrical shape, supported by shafting 2 and adapted for rotation within an enclosed chamber 3. The. latter is provided with a removablecover plate 4 for the introduction ,of fruit into the device, and the cover plate 4 corresponds to a I similar, although preferably somewhat smaller V a cover plate 5 in the vessel I. release the oil contained therein, the centrifugal and 'fWithOllt harmful access of air-thereto," I p i prefer to provide' for a plurality of openings or holes in the outer wall of the'{ rotating vessel,

and to locatethe vessel in a closed chamber, the

. vessel andchamber-being provided] with, separate fruit.

means for removing the rindoil and the treated Preferably, I also provide that the outer wall -of the rotatingvessel is comprisedof two adjacent'shelis. The inner shell is'prefrably co'nstituted of veryliQght andthin metal; having f portions thereofqip'set to provide a multiplicity The shafting 2 is supported by bearings 6 at either end thereof, and is connected by a belt I or other suitable connection to a motor 8 or other prime mover. The enclosed chamber 3 is preferably 'provided with a sloped bottom 9 and a valve ,l2' at the lower .end

spaced flanges Iii mounted uponi-the shafting 2, and preferably of'circular configuration although not necessarilyso; In the preferred form of my invention illustrated in the drawing, the flanges l3 are attached at their peripheries to a cylin drlcal' wall structure comprising an inner shell l5 and an outer shell l8. 1

The innersheli ll is constituted of thin metal,

' therethrough.

for example, 24 gauge sheet metal, and is provided with a multiplicity .of inwardly extending prickers or ribs ll, of a. length not greater than the thickness of the rind of the fruit to be treated 5, and a multiplicity ofopenings 'or holes It. The

. prickers l1 and holes it are most conveniently.

made by upsetting portions of-the shell l5, preferably in triangular segments, as is' shown'to advantage-in Figs.'2 and 3. In this manner, the prickers i1 and holes it are provided in a single operation...

The length or height of the priclrers I1 is, as

I recited hereinabove, regulated according to the thickness of the rind of the fruit treated, for

'15 example from one-sixteenth to three-sixteenths of an inch, and it should be noted that the thickcontamination would not only lessen the-purity of the productby the-inclusion of foreign materialbut the presence of the aqueous material would tend to cause hydrolysis and decomposition of the oil, greatly injuring its flavor, aroma andvalue.

The outer shell 86 is provided for the purpose of supporting the. inner shell l5, and is therefore.

of strong and rigid construction and contiguous to the inner shell It. In the present instance it is shown as comprising a foraminous cylinderof. ;relatively heavy metal. The foraminationsor 'fholes i9 may be and in this instance preferably are located correspondingly to the openings l8 of the'l'inner shell l8. fAs an alternate mode of is comprised of heavy and coarsely woven fwire clothfj. Such wire cloth must of course have 1 strands of quite large. diameter in order to have suflicie'nt rigidity for the purpose. v

v 1 By means of suitable fastening means 2l,,-the

inner shell l5 and outer-shell it of the vessel l are attached to-the peripheries of the flanges l3.

. Removable fastenings may be used where it may 6" be desired to replace the inner Sheli with hers of differently sized prickers, as for example where thenature of the fruit treated varies considerably.

. The chamber 2.may be and preferably is providedas shown with conduits. 22'a'nd 23 having valves 5 24 and 25 respectively. By means of these conduits and valves, a current of inertgas such as carbon diqside nitrogen or helium, may be led through the apparatus.- To assist inthe passage of the. gas through the apparatus and in the removal of v air, a plurality of holes 21 may be provided in the g flanges [3. These should be of such size and so i placedasnot to One of the flanges I3 is also provided with one 5 or more handholes 28, located near the periphery thereof and corresponding to a correspondingly located handhole' 29 in one end wall of the chamber 3. These permit the removal 'of the treated fruit separately from the removal of the oil. The entire apparatus, or atleast those portions J thereof with which the fruit or oil comes into contact,may beconstructed of or lined with suitable non-corrosive metal, that. is to Say, metal which is not affected by,-- nor affects, the delicate l. Monei'metai rnayordinarilybe employed.v

construction, I may employ an outer wall It that permit the escape of fruit orioil' In the'operation of the device described, a quan.- tity of whole fruit, which has previously been washed and dried to remove foreign matter, and

water, respectively, is charged into the vessel,

' through the doors 4 and 5, which are then re- 5 placed; The amount of fruit should be such that considerable freedom of movement is possible.

After the lids 4 and 5 have been replaced v and before thevessei I is put into rotation by the motor 8, the valves 24 and 25 are opened. and 10 a current of inert gas, such for example as carbon dioxide, nitrogen oreven helium, is passed through the chamber 3, until substantially all air has been .displaced. The valves 24 and 25 are then closed, as are the handhole 29Land the valve 15 I2, and the motor 8 is started, thus causing the vessel i to rotate about the shafting- 2i Therotation of the vessel i causes the fruitto vbe pressed againstthe multiplicity ofprickers H, which pierce the rinds of the fruit and cause 20 I the rind oilsto be liberated or to "bleed. It may sometimes be desirable to start and stop,.or to reverse the direction of rotation at intervals in order to causea tumbling" of the fruit within the-vesse] I, althoughordinarilythis is not necessary.

The oil thus liberated or bled from the fruit is, by the centrifugal force of rotationxcaused to pass through the openings l8 and [9 of the shells i5 and 16, respectively, and collects in the bottom 'of the chamber 3, from which it may be re- 3 moved from time to time by means of the valve i2, for bottling or the like. In any event, the removal, storage or bottling operation should be conducted as rapidly as possible and in such manner as to eliminate contact of completely as possible.

After the maximum amount of oil has been removed from the fruit in this manner, the motor 8 is stopped, and the treated fruit is then removed through the handhole 29 or otherwise. The ap- 4Q manner, and without necessitating'the employ- 5 ment ofsolventa permitting' the access of air, or causing contamination of the delicate rind oil with foreign or aqueous material. J 4 Itwill, of. course, be obvious to those skilledin the art-that the apparatus described is capable 56.

of modification as. to'theldetaiis thereof without departing from the true inventivescope thereof; and, therefore, I do not limit myself to. the speciflc example"orexampleshereinabove set forth or described by wayof. illustration, except as I 55 may" do in the claims hereinafter made.

Iclaim asmy invention: V 1. Apparatus for removing oil from the rinds of citrus fruit which comprises an enclosed chamber, a vessel mounted therein, adapted to receive no a quantity of whole fruit and having an outer wall comprised cf an inner shell of thin metal,

U ing ascraping eflect, and a-relatively thick outer shell enclosing anti supporting said inner shell. and contiguous thereto having perforations in 70 alignment with the holes in-the inner shell, mea

' for rotating thevessel whereby the fruit is pressed by centrifugal ,force asainstisaid-outer wall. A. 2. Apparatus for removing oil from the rinds of citrus fruit which comprises a pair of spaced 7| the oil with air as 35 15 .3. Apparatus for removing oil from flanges mounted upon coaxial shai'ting, a thin metal cylinder having its ends fastened to the peripheries 01. said flanges and having portions thereof upsetto provide a plurality of inwardly extending single sharp-pointed prongs of length not greater than the thickness of the rinds of the the whole being mounted for rotation within an enclosed chamber.

the rinds of citrus fruit which comprises a pair of spaced flanges mounted upon coaxial shafting, a thin metalcyiinder having its ends iastened to the peripheries of said flanges and having portions thereof upset to provide a plurality of inwardly extending prickers of length not greater than the thickness of the rinds oi the fruit and a corresponding plurality of holes, and a rigid outer shell surrounding and supporting said cylinder and contiguous thereto and having openings in alignment with the holes in said ,cylindeizthe whole being mounted for rotation in an enclosed chamher, and means for passing a current of inert gas through said chamber. a

' FRANK C. DORMENT. 

